How Bradford's National Media Museum survived the spending review

Exhibits including Hughie Green's Clapometer from Opportunity Knocks are moved into storage in 1997 at the National Media Museum - or as it was then, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. Photograph: Don Mcphee

As it turned out, George Osborne kept museum cuts to 5%. But Ian Blatchford, director of the Science Museum Group, confirmed that the media museum would have been first to go. "The threat to the museum in a 10% scenario was very real," he said.

Blatchford said the institution needed "the greatest attention" of any of the four museums, which include the Science Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry and the National Railway Museum.

On Tuesday Blatchford gave an assurance that none of the four would close and said measures were in place to revive fortunes at the NMM, not least giving the museum more of a focus on science and technology, a lack of which he said had been one of its problems.

The threat may have gone but the difficulties for the NMM, which has seen its visitor numbers fall by half, have been laid bare. Blatchford said reasons for the fall included city centre redevelopment and building works, the fact that Imax was no longer such a novelty – and perhaps also the museum's name.

"Although it would appear to be quite a neat title, it is quite confusing because it doesn't really tell you very much about its content," he said.

The NMM was previously called the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.

Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, said a "very good settlement" had been secured with the Treasury, which ringfenced national museum cuts to 5%.

"While any cut is unwelcome," Vaizey said, "I think it is within the bounds of reasonableness and should give Science Museum Group and other national museums some comfort and opportunity."

He added that measures were on the way to give museums more freedom, whether that meant the power to set pay rates or the opportunity to borrow in order to invest.